For me, he is everything that’s wrong with hip-hop: a mildly-talented, wannabe gangster, wannabe artist, record label puppet who finds so much substance in substances, money, sex and ignorant violence that he forgot what his point was. He brags about being nearly shot and killed (he shot himself) and going to prison (for possessing a gun he never intended on using).

It’s a shame that he’s garnered so much respect from some of the people whose music I love (or at one point loved), but if that’s the opposite extreme from constant rap killings, I can live with it.

I’m not an artist or a music reviewer (please read that Pitchfork review), but a life-long hip-hop fan. I was born in the era of hip-hop, and when I look back on that era I’d prefer to block out songs like Lollipop and Pussy, Money, Weed. It’s difficult to argue that this genre is about so much more than these things when someone like Lil Wayne makes it all about those things.

I can respect Lil Wayne for a few catchy featured verses, trying to broaden his own horizons (even if they did nothing for music’s), his old Hot Boyz stuff, being good to his fans and Having his own style; but that’s it. Nothing more. He’s taken away more from music than he’s given.

My 10 favourite Lil Wayne similes/metaphors in no particular order:

1. I’m Getting more cheese than macaroni And I’m in more beef than beefaroni